Noble Lady

Chapter 186 He 2 Master

Hearing Xiaocao's excited words, Xue Chenyu just felt it was ironic.

She originally thought that no matter how incompetent He Minzhi and Ji Minrou were, they could still open a winery. The shop was ready-made, and they just needed to find a master craftsman, buy some grain, and start running the business.

I didn’t expect that the money was almost gone before the winery even started operating.

Ji Minrou is also capable of enriching herself and acquiring her own property.

Now it seems that she really overestimated Ji Minrou and He Minzhi.

As for people like Ji Minrou and He Minzhi, how did they cause the Wu'an Marquis Mansion to be destroyed in their previous lives?

Could it be that there is a hand behind all this?

"You don't know, that cousin was like crazy, she beat up the broker in the dental shop..."

Several maids were so scared that they got goose bumps all over their bodies.

"This cousin is too scary."

"That's right. How is this different from being truly crazy?"

The younger Yuli hid directly behind Yumei.

Yuzhu was relatively calm and asked, "Aunt Zhao, did the old lady and Lord He finally say how to deal with her?"

"This is over eight thousand taels of silver. If we report her to the authorities, she could be killed just for the theft charge."

Before Xiaocao could say anything, Qiuhua continued, "Given Madam He's personality, there's no way she would file a complaint. She's such a stickler for reputation, how could she possibly let anyone know about this?"

Xiao Cao said, "For Mrs. Ji's sake, the old lady and the master agreed to contact the real estate agent and the landlord first to return the deposit. The real estate agent also thought that less trouble is worse than more, so he agreed."

"But the deposit paid is only over two thousand taels, and the bulk of it is still in the hands of Mrs. Ji's brother. But from what Mrs. Ji said, he indulged in drinking, whoring and gambling. So much time has passed, I guess there is nothing left now."

Xue Chenyu pondered for a moment, "Have they discussed how to recover the money?"

Xiao Cao: "Mrs. Ji means to report it to the police. He took the money and has already squandered it. If we don't report it to the police, it will be difficult to find him. But the old lady and the master still refused."

She was still a little puzzled as she spoke, "Why don't you report it to the police? Didn't Mrs. Ji say that his brother is a scoundrel who eats, drinks, gambles, and has no scruples? He stole several thousand taels of silver, so just report it to the police and arrest him."

"Of course they won't." Xue Chenyu curled her lips slightly. She had long seen through the mother and son of the He family.

"If we report this to the authorities, we'll have to explain the whole story, including the origins of the money. Isn't this tantamount to exposing the He family's dirty laundry to others?"

"Just like Qiuhua said, Madam He is such a proud person, how could she possibly let others know about such a scandal in her family?"

He Minzhi ignored his wife who was carried into the house in a sedan chair, and let his widowed cousin be the housekeeper. This would be ridiculed if it were made public.

If other people knew that this cousin took advantage of her position as head of the household to embezzle more than 8,000 taels of silver, and was deceived by her ruffian uncle into spending money on eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring, they would be laughing their heads off.

Xiao Cao chuckled, "Madam is really smart. Why didn't I think of this before?"

She really thought that the mother and son really cared about the friendship between aunt and niece, and cousins.

"The old lady and the adults refused to report to the police, so Mrs. Ji wanted to take Ji Minrou back, but the old lady disagreed, and Ji Minrou herself refused. Now all we can do is to keep Ji Minrou under custody while we look for Mrs. Ji's brother first."

Xue Chenyu curled her lips in sarcasm. Ji Minrou had really made up her mind to stay in the He family until her death.

Is there some fatal attraction to He Minzhi for him?

The He family did not punish Ji Minrou, and the matter came to an end.

However, they refused to report to the police, so the money might never be recovered.

From beginning to end, the uncle of the Ji family never showed up. Even after Mrs. Ji went back, she didn't send any message back. It was obvious that she didn't want to get involved in this mess.

……

Mr. He Er returned home on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival. As soon as he came back, he went to see Liu and called He Minzhi, proposing to divide the family.

Liu was so angry that her old illness almost relapsed and she refused to agree no matter what.

"Uncle, our family has been doing well for so many years, why are you trying to take advantage of us now?"

Master He Er had a cold face and said nothing.

"His second uncle, you just came back today. Did you hear something bad?"

"Sister-in-law has filtered it. Who can say something bad about me? Besides, my nephew is now an editor in the Hanlin Academy. Who dares to say anything bad about him?"

This was clearly a counterintuitive statement, and Liu was choked by him and unable to refute it.

Judging from appearance alone, Mr. He Er and He Minzhi do have some similarities.

It’s just that He Minzhi has been living a life of luxury in Beijing, and now that he has entered the Hanlin Academy, he no longer has to be exposed to the wind and sun.

Mr. He Er was completely different. His skin was tanned and he did not have the style of a Beijing official. Instead, he had the down-to-earth temperament of a local official.

I guess he worked in the fields a lot.

He Minzhi looked him over. "Doesn't Second Uncle usually come home for holidays? Why did he come back specially this time? Could it be that Second Aunt wrote a letter specifically to invite you back?"

"Why, now that my nephew has entered the Hanlin Academy, he wants to take charge of such trivial matters as whether or not my uncle and aunt write letters home?"

He Minzhi: “…” He really knows how to choke someone to death without paying for it.

He Minzhi smiled again, "Second uncle, you're too kind. Second uncle rarely comes home for holidays in the past. He came back suddenly this time, so there must be some reason."

Master He II narrowed his eyes slightly. "My nephew should be thinking about whether he has done anything to bring disgrace to the family and betray the He family's long-standing reputation, right?"

He was also the head of a county and was used to seeing those stubborn and tyrannical people. When he narrowed his eyes, there was really a sense of stern majesty.

He Minzhi gritted his teeth secretly. He became more certain that his second uncle must have come back after hearing those rumors, otherwise he would not have wanted to split up the family as soon as he entered the house.

But how could he have the nerve to propose a separation? What contribution did the second branch make to the He family?

He barely passed the imperial examination and became a small seventh-rank county magistrate at the age of thirty. He had made no progress in all these years and was afraid that this would be the end of his life.

The two sons are also useless and can't even pass the imperial examination. If the academy hadn't given their father a chance, would they still want to be teachers?

Ruyi was getting married, and her mother was ill, but the second wife couldn't even organize the wedding properly. If the second aunt and her mother, daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law could do something decent, he wouldn't have let Ji Minrou take over the housekeeping and let her take advantage of the opportunity to embezzle more than 8,300 taels of silver.

I get angry just thinking about him!

"Uncle, you've come all the way back from your hometown. You must have worked hard on the journey. It's getting late today, so go back and rest first. As for the matter of dividing the family..."

"Go back and discuss it with Minde and Minxing first. Let me think it over carefully and discuss it with Dalang. This isn't just a matter of whether to have porridge or steamed buns for breakfast, is it?"

Liu's attitude was so tactful, and she had said so much. It was not easy for Mr. He to force the issue any further.

"Then I won't disturb my sister-in-law's rest. Goodbye."